London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A man has been arrested in India over the murder of a woman in east London and three rapes and six other sex attacks in the area two years ago.

He was seized on a flight at New Delhi airport in connection with the killing of Michelle Samaraweera, 35, whose body was found in a park in Walthamstow in May 2009. The shop worker had been raped and strangled.

Indian authorities acted after receiving information from Scotland Yard detectives investigating her murder. A Yard spokesman said the force would be seeking the extradition of the 26-year-old man.

Detectives travelled to India this year and have been liaising closely with the Indian authorities. Sources said enquiries also led them to New Zealand where the suspect had married and had children.

A source said: "He had set up a completely new life in New Zealand. He was catching a plane to return there when the Indian police arrested him."

The arrest is a breakthrough in one of the Met's most perplexing and longest-running unsolved murder cases. Ms Samaraweera, an insomniac, was attacked after going to a supermarket near her home to buy milk in the early hours of May 30, 2009. Her body was discovered off Queen's Road. Detectives released CCTV images of her assailant and believed he was responsible for three rapes and up to six other sex attacks. Scotland Yard said the man was arrested on a flight leaving the country but refused to give further details. Detectives investigating the murder linked the attack to three other rapes using DNA.

The first, on a 59-year-old woman, took place in her bedroom at 1am on March 24, 2009. She was returning to her home near Queen's Road and noticed a man standing close by as she approached the front door. He forced his way inside and raped her.

The second rape, on a 46-year-old woman, happened after she was pushed into an alleyway in Walthamstow in the early hours of April 22.

The third, on a 32-year-old woman, took place at a similar time on April 29 in the grounds of nearby St Saviours Church in Markhouse Road.